Echo Sushi (Yonge and Eglinton) Review

Rui and I love exploring the best all-you-can-eat sushi places within the greater Toronto area.

Since we’ve already been to many sushi places, we decided to stop by Yonge and Eglinton to try Echo Sushi. It’s a place we were always curious about but just never got to it because we don’t live close by. I mean, the last time we visited Yonge and Eg. was last summer when we decided to try Rolltation’s poke bowls, which you can read about here. Spoiler alert: I think Rolltation is a little overrated.

Anyway, today was the day we stopped by Echo Sushi to try their all-you-can-eat dinner menu. We also included this place in our list of the best sushi AYCE restaurants given its popularity, simplicity, and price point.

In this review, we’re going to tell you all about our thoughts and whether or not it’s worth going to.

Echo Sushi AYCE Menu

Before we get into the review, here’s a glimpse of Echo Sushi’s all-you-can-eat dinner menu.

Compared to other top sushi restaurants like Matsuda, Kaka Sushi, and most other ones we’ve been to in the Scarborough, North York, Markham, and Richmond Hill areas, you can see that they kept it very simple and old-school style. I was surprised to see that they still do the whole pen-and-paper thing.

It’s not a bad thing because it felt like a blast in the past and sometimes, it feels nice to order your food without using tablets or mobiles.

And in case you didn’t know, you can always ask the server for the main menu if you want to know what ingredients are used in each sushi roll. They have a separate a la carte menu, which they made available in their AYCE menu. So, if you can eat more than the menu’s sticker price, then I recommend going for the AYCE menu over a la carte.

Other Best Sushi Places in Toronto To Check Out:

Echo Sushi Review

Here is our honest Echo Sushi at Yonge and Eglinton review!

Salmon Sashimi

For starters, we asked for 5 pieces of salmon and white tuna sashimi.

If you’re obsessed with sashimi like me, then you’re going to want to order many rounds of this throughout your meal!

What I like to do is put a small slice of ginger on the sashimi with a hint of wasabi – this combination tastes amazing and you get to appreciate the natural flavours of foods without soy sauce. But of course, you can choose to dip it in soy sauce if you like salty.

Either way, sashimi is one of the things we like to order the most at an AYCE sushi restaurant. That’s where you can get your money’s worth too!

Tataki Salmon

The salmon tataki sashimi was another hit too. Rui and I liked the slight smokey taste with a hint of more flavour (since it’s already marinated with light sauce) compared to the original. Rui prefers this but I like the original salmon sashimi better. To me, less is more, but we all have different tastes.

Either way, you can’t go wrong. In fact, go ahead and order a variety and try them yourself!

White Tuna Sashimi

This was a flop here. We didn’t like the white tuna as much compared to other sushi restaurants. This one came out a bit frozen, so biting on it was cold.

Maybe it was just a bad batch?

Torched Salmon on Fire Roll

The torched salmon on fire was a good pick. Other than the kani (crab meat), I enjoyed this sushi overall.

The salmon was smooth in texture with a nice torched taste. Given how much I dislike white rice, I appreciate the thin layer wrapped outside of the Nori seaweed.

Since this roll was packed with flavour already, there is no need to dip this into soy sauce.

Fire Cracker Roll

Another great sushi roll!

Rui and I appreciate the thick chunk of salmon in between each roll. Mixed with the tempura bits and topped with some white sesame, this roll delivers a nice crunch in your mouth. I personally skipped the soy sauce, but you can choose to dip it in any sauce if you feel that it lacks flavour.

Snow Roll

If you’re looking for something different from the standard sushi roll, then you must try the snow roll.

Instead of rice, they use a sheet of white paper rice to wrap the roll. It’s the same wrap as those shrimp vermicelli spring rolls that you eat at Vietnamese restaurants.

This was one of my favourite rolls at Echo Sushi because not only does it remind me of Vietnamese rolls, but it’s got avocado (my favourite food) mixed with tempura bits topped with spicy mayo. If you want to take a break from clean eating, then the snow roll will offer you comfort and satisfy your cravings.

Yummy – I loved that crunchy texture!

Brown Rice Mango and Salmon Roll

Call me crazy. Whatever, I don’t care.

I love the fact that Echo Sushi offers brown rice as an option for the health-conscious.

If you’re a health nut, then you’ll appreciate that this exists here. What’s more, is it they fill the roll with mango and sashimi. I mean, who doesn’t love mango? It’s healthy and it tastes heavenly. And no, I don’t think it’s weird with rice!

Before I end this conversation, I wanted to point out that this roll didn’t come with any sauce. I think they know how to tailor it to their audience. The restaurant owners probably know that those who want to eat clean will ask for no sauce whatsoever.

If I can explain this sushi roll using a few words, it would be this: four ingredients – brown rice, salmon, mango, and nori. Good – that’s the kind of roll I’m looking for, but too bad they don’t offer wild salmon like how Vancouver does!

Brown Rice Spicy Salmon Roll

Another roll I really enjoyed is their brown rice spicy salmon roll.

Instead of mango, they filled it with avocado. I must say gotta love those healthy fats filled with fiber, magnesium, and folate!

They also sprinkle a little bit of crispy tempura to give you that nice crunchy texture.

Would I order this again? Yes, absolutely!

Beef Enoki Mushroom

If you don’t order enoki mushrooms wrapped with beef at a Japanese restaurant in Toronto, then you are missing out.

This pair is a match made in heaven leaving you with a feel-good sensation in your tummy.

Beef on Skewers

I don’t want to eat too much red meat especially when it’s charred and grilled.

Nope, I didn’t miss out on this because Rui told me it was hard and not as good as the ones from Matsuda and Sushi Legend.

Grilled Salmon

I don’t generally like to order cooked salmon from restaurants since I prefer eating most of my fish at home. But we ordered two to try it so we could write about it in this review.

One word: avoid.

You’ll get way better grilled salmon from other Japanese sushi places without the overly charred surface, which is terrible for you!

Rui said he felt this salmon was cooked from an old grill that wasn’t cleaned properly since he could taste some metal flavour to it.

I had to scrap off all the grill marks the best I could. It was almost impossible to avoid since I ended up throwing away most of the salmon.

Cube Steak with Garlic

Avoid this too!

They call it “cube” but it wasn’t really cube-shaped like what you see at Matsuda, Kaka, Sushi Legend, etc.

The beef was almost impossible to chew on and it didn’t taste very fresh.

Rui agrees this was a total miss.

Broccoli

One thing we like to do is include at least 3 to 5 cups of veggies in every meal.

Unfortunately, Echo Sushi’s broccoli was a miss so we didn’t want to order any more. Good luck with having even a cup of veggies tonight!

Why did we dislike it?

It was soaked in soy sauce, which made it a little salty. The lack of garlic and overuse of soy sauce made this veggie dish taste not only unhealthy but bad too – so it wasn’t worth eating it. We definitely like the broccoli better at AI sushi – it was pretty good surprisingly!

Dumplings

These dumplings taste just like any other typical dumplings you get.

They weren’t horrible but weren’t amazing either. What we didn’t like is the heavy use of fatty meat and oily center.

Packed with unhealthy fats, carbs, and bad oils, we just didn’t think it was worth it for its taste. Definitely not worth the bad calorie intake and you’re just better off shifting those calories to their delicious sushi rolls like the Snow Roll or torched rolls.

Shrimp Tempura

I didn’t have any shrimp tempura since I’m not a fan. But Rui had them and said they were just okay. What he didn’t like was the small amount of shrimp in the center.

He probably wouldn’t order it again from here if we were to come back.

Black Sesame Ice Cream

I wasn’t expecting much from their dessert menu, but surprisingly, their black sesame ice cream was good!

In fact, the server told us that the only available flavours they have are green tea, mango, and vanilla. I asked her “no black sesame?”

She said, “well there is, but I’ll have to open it since it’s not opened yet.”

So, if you want to try their black sesame ice cream, I recommend you asking them specifically since they may not call it out.

Green Tea Icc Cream

Rui ordered also ordered two scoops of green tea ice cream. He said it was good and had no complaints about it.

I tried some of his too, and I thought the same – tastes good! I like that it’s milky and smooth.

Food: 3.7/5

Most of their sushi rolls are good. I don’t think you’ll have any problems with them.

What we like is how the presentation of the rolls came out nicely. We also appreciate the fact that their rolls aren’t overfilled with white rice.

Personally, for me, I give them extra brownie points for offering sushi rolls with brown rice and tailoring their menu to those who like eating healthier. Speaking of which, they also offer vegetarian rolls for those of you who are vegetarian! I didn’t try them, but I’m sure they’re good.

The turnoff is their teppanyaki menu. The grilled salmon and beef dishes were mostly a fail. They also failed with the broccoli. If you’re looking for some good AYCE teppanyaki, then we recommend Matsuda or Sushi Legend over Echo Sushi. Kaka is another good sushi place with teppanyaki!

Summing that up, I would say Echo sushi offers decent sushi rolls comparable to AI sushi. But I give them extra stars for the brown rice option!

Service: 4.5/5

I wasn’t expecting much from the servers, but it was a surprise to us! They were friendly, nice, and very accommodating.

They kept taking our plates away to empty our table, and they took the initiative to ask if we needed anything.

Ambiance: 3/5

Don’t expect this place to look modern.

Echo Sushi actually is very small compared to the AYCE sushi places in Scarborough, North York, Markham, and Richmond Hill.

It’s got a traditional and warm feel. Not only that, but it also feels cozy, so you can have a nice intimate conversation with your date, partner, or friends. If you’re an introvert, then this place is for you!

Price: $$

Unlike other sushi restaurants, they do not offer a 10% discount when you do cash.

It doesn’t matter how you pay, you won’t get any discount.

With tax and 15% tips, we paid $104 for two people. It’s not a “cheap eats” but it’s comparable to other sushi places.

If you’re looking for something better, we still recommend the ones in Scarborough, Markham, North York, and Richmond Hill. Not only may you get a 10% discount for paying cash, but they offer more food selection in a more modern environment.

Overall Rating of Echo Sushi: 3.7/5

I give them a higher-than-expected rating because they offer brown rice rolls, and because the service was friendly.

I also give them a bonus for keeping their menu simple – they do not overcomplicate things with 300 items on the menu like other AYCE sushi places!

Had their teppanyaki been better, I would have boosted this rating to 4 out of 5 stars. But for now, let’s keep it at 3.7!